“It’s like masochism, or something,” he told BBC News. “I want to see what they think, because they’re employed to review records. And stupidly, I think that people who are employed to review records should be impartial, and should listen to the record in a balanced way.”

Harris insisted that his album was not as poor as some reviews had suggested.

“‘Ready For The Weekend’ is not a two-star album,” he claimed. “It’s just not. And I’m not saying that because I made it. There are a huge volume of reviews that aren’t even based on the music. They barely say anything about the record.”

Giving his own opinion on the record, Harris was somewhat more positive than his journalistic deriders.

“I’m beside myself with delight [about the album], to be honest with you, because this has been such a long process,” he said. “I’ve realised everything I had in my head and put it onto a CD, so for me it’s a great achievement, personally. It’s the best thing I’ve done in my life.”

For our review of ‘Ready For The Weekend’, get the new issue of NME, out today (August 19).